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Briggs looks over to Autumn as if to ask her if he should push harder. She gives him a shake of her head and looks back at me.
“I’ll walk you out at least,” she says.
I nod in agreement, grabbing my jacket and purse off the floor under the table where I had set it earlier.
“I got her,” Slade says over my shoulder to Autumn.
Autumn looks at me, her eyes flaring as she tries not to grin. “Ok, thanks,” she tells him.
“Traitor,” I grumble under my breath.
I remember that I haven’t messaged Win back and I don’t want him to think he stepped over the line.
He didn’t.
Not in the slightest.
“Let me grab my jacket, and then I’ll walk you to your car,” he says.
Before I can tell him not to bother, he jogs over to his spot at the bar where he was sitting next to Reeve.
I use Slade's absence as my opening to send off a response to Win.
I type it up and then blow out a breath to gain the courage to send it.
SkatrGirlPen: Do you think we should meet in person?
Sent.
I hibernate my phone quickly, almost too nervous to see his reply.
Even now… even after what he said, I’m still worried about rejection a second time. And maybe a tiny part of me is worried that the idea of him is far greater than the actual reality of him.
Is it better not to break this spell and keep what we have, even if it’s always with a laptop or cell phone between us?
I glance over to see Slade with his jacket in his hand, paused in place as he stares down at his phone… almost frozen in place.
Whatever he just read took him off guard.
He stares back at his phone, and then, after a few seconds, he tucks the phone into his back pocket.
I try to play it off like I’m not watching him walk over to me when I see one of the three women cut through between the pool tables to stop him.
“Are you leaving?” she asks.
He pauses, not answering her right away, and his eyes flash over to me. I look away, pretending to be interested in Seven and Briggs’s game of pool… which, as usual, Seven is dominating.
“I’m just walking someone out,” he tells her.
He didn’t technically say he’s leaving but he also didn’t commit to coming back in.
He passes by the pretty brunette with long legs and heads for me.
“Do you have everything?” he asks, searching the table to make sure I’m not leaving anything behind.
“Yeah,” I say.
I turn and head for the door as Slade follows close behind.
